Claremore Woman's Home Ruined By EF-3 Tornado Just Months After Losing Her Husband

A Claremore mother and her son rode out Saturday night’s storm in their bathtub.

They said it was a terrifying night, and there was a lot of destruction, but there is also so much they are grateful for.

Roma Ramthun said she has had a tough year, and the cleanup and return to normalcy will take a long time.

But she now knows the true meaning of the Oklahoma standard.

Roma can’t help but use humor to cope with looking at her home and the forced spring cleaning she is doing after the weekend’s tornado.

“I have to laugh. Look how much weird stuff is happening here."

The tornado tore a path through her Claremore neighborhood, flattening her shop and ruining much of her home in a terrifying night spent huddling in the bathtub.

“I’ll never wash the sounds out of my brain, not ever," she said.

"This the Madison Scouts the year I met him, 1981," she said, looking at a framed photo.

The love of Roma’s life was David Wayne Ramthun.

She met him while taking photos of his drum and bugle corps, the Madison Scouts, in Wisconsin.

“This blonde god walked past me, he looked at me and said, take any good snapshots?”

The two became very close friends and always had a spark, but then Roma joined the military and they both married other people.

Years later, Roma became a widow, and when David was also single, their love rekindled 20 years ago. They got married and had a son, David Robert.

"Got pregnant when we were 45, neither one of us had children before," she said. "We have this beautiful amazing hero.”

David Wayne died in his sleep a couple of months ago.

Roma said after losing him, all this destruction is nothing in comparison.

"I’ve been through the worst now," she said. “The rest of this stuff does not matter, it doesn’t matter at all.”

Roma says everywhere she looks, there are helpers.

And as the cleanup continues, discovering these special memories carries her through this heartbreaking reality.

“It is the small things, it really is the small things,” she said.

Roma said she is thankful the damage at her home wasn't worse and is hoping to get an RV so she can be back on her property soon.

HELP FAMILY